Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Alright, so apparently, it has to be a holiday for me to post, seeing as the last time I posted it was Earth Day. But today is my birthday and to celebrate, I am vowing to update the blog more efficiently. (We aren't going to talk about the fact that it was also a New Year's Resolution).

So, 27 years ago today, at 12:01 am, my lovely mama gave birth to me. Even though I took my sweet time about it (23 hours), she decided to keep me around.

And when you are live in a college town and have college friends, what do you do, especially when these "college bars" have things called "birthday shots"....
My Official Birthday Dealers......my choice on Mexican Beer Night (do they have these anywhere but Texas?)........"Oh, it's your birthday?!? Lemme buy you a shot! (Red-headed Slut, if you must know....)
...My First Free-Birthday-Bar Shot (Fancy Pants - 180 Energy drink w/ a shot of vodka)........This was another "It's Your Birthday?!?"-shot (Red-headed Slut), but we just thought the picture came out really cool.....

...We found another guy celebrating his birthday, so we took free birthday shots together....
...Finished of the night with another Mexican Beer and a sandwich from the only place that was open , within walking distance.......

...on a complete side-note (follow the bouncing bunny....), I got the Veggie Sub (only 'cause my veggie friend wanted to split.) Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE me some dead cow (or chicken), but this was truly an awesome sandwich. Even if you are a meat-lover like me, you gotta try it. End of song.

Yes, I took my camera. What kind of nerd do you think I am?!? I promise, this is not all that will happen today. Just what has happened in the first 2.5 hours of my birthday. I promise to follow up with other happenings, especially what has happened in the past month that I haven't blogged!

Happy Earth Day

So, yeah, it's Earth Day. It seems everyone is doing something to celebrate and well, you know me. I'm a joiner! So I figure today at SnB I will start my Zoom Swiffer Cover (pdf). I have thought about doing one for a while, especially after reading weeze's study. I am a huge fan of the entire Swiffer line, so anything that will keep me from using the disposable cloths is a good thing.

So after reading Bezzie's post, I thought I would share the few things that I do. Granted, like Bezzie, it's kind of a side-effect of cheapassness, but hey, it still counts!My Market Bags (formally of Magknits, linked to author's pdf). I have made these two, but really need another. These things are wonderful and SOOOO much better than the non-earth-friendly counterparts. They form much better to food and boxed and don't blow out when you poke a hole in it with some sharp corner. I think you can hold a lot more in them too. Plus, knitting them out of cotton, if something leaks or whatnot, you can just throw it in the washing machine.Reusable containers. This is my favorite! It's a Wonderbread sandwich container. It a little battered from being loved so much. It fits nicely in my purse and I can go quite a while before having to wash it. Granted, the sandwich is usually peanut butter or turkey with mustard - not exactly mess-makers. I rarely use plastic bags for anything. I will put anything else in a reusable container.Programmable thermostat. One of the best investments in my apartment. This helps by turning off the AC/Heat when I am not home, without having to remember to turn it off. Even if you aren't sure of what settings are good for you, most of them come with an "Energy Star" set of settings. These are designed to effectively use the energy. I only changed it a smidge by having it cool down a few more degrees in the evening (74 degrees from 6-10pm) main 'cause this is Texas and it's hot! But even so, I have the cheapest electric bill in the entire complex.Windows. Free light. It's just that simple. I usually don't have any lights one, just the blinds open.

My recycling initiative. Bezzie commented last time that she liked my above-bed shelving. That's because The Bez has a cheap eye! :-P I absconded those from work. They were formally "corrugated displays" for paperback books. Next time you go to your favorite bookstore, you will see them EVERYWHERE! Once the promotion is over, we do recycle them (we recycle a TON of cardboard), unless a bookseller absconds with them. So, I get free shelves and extend the life of a manufactured recyclable. Go me....

Sidenote: I discovered a new level of crack...the literary kind. Check out Shelfari at your own risk. It's addictive. I will be trying to keep it current with what I am reading. I warn you, it's random!

I must have been born the Year of the Rat.....

.....or at least the Year of the Pack Rat. But my mother says I come by it honestly from my father, so see, it's not really my fault! When I started my whole "cleaning frenzy", this is one of the things I was trying to overcome. Mainly, getting rid of the stuff I REALLY don't need, i.e. TRASH!!! This means that whatever I keep needs to have a place. But even after going through everything, I still have a hard time finding a place for it all.

You see, I have a lot of stuff. Granted, as a knitter, you acquire the necessary implements of the trade: needles, yarn, books, fiber, the wheel, etc. As a student, you acquire a plethora of books, notes, journals, etc. When you like to read (and work at a bookstore), you also acquire various reading material. This makes for a very crowded bedroom.The paperback collection...along with my most read works, Harry Potter and the Outlander series......More yarn storage, hardcovers, chemistry texts, knitting texts, and class notes.
"The Desk"....this is its natural state. Like the rest of my bedroom, this is as good as it gets. It is just a permanent state of chaos. No use in trying to tame the beast.

Speaking of taming the beast, this one will be tamed at the end of May.....I am planning on donating my hair at the end of May. By then I should have enough and still have shoulder length hair. I am sure by then I will be begging for my aunt to cut it off 'cause, well, it gets a bit warm in Texas by Memorial Day weekend.

Proof positive....

All right, so apparently I struck a chord with folks who hate to clean. Did quite realize ya'll felt the same way. I have even had a few converts! However, off-line I have had a few skeptics wonder if I have actually cleaned. Seems there is some sort of disbelief going on...can't imagine why....

Well, check out......the living room.....
Look, ma! You can see the floor!
Hey, that's about as organized as the knitting area gets.....Yeah, that's only a smidge of the amount of tea I have...it's crazy......but tasty!God I need a bigger kitchen.......It's so white...........a free of makeup residue.......



What? Can't here you.....you say you wonder where the pictures of my bedroom are? Well, yeah, so the bedroom isn't quite done yet. It always seems to be the last to happen.

Hey, look knitting!Pattern: Evangeline, formally of MagKnits
Yarn: Lion Brand WoolEase in Blue Mist
Needles: US 8
Notes: These were done elbow length, per the recipient's request. These were for a coworker and she was just ecstatic over them. Seriously, she wore them for like an hour around the store. Good to be appreciated.

Such a nice smell......the little that I can smell........

I have a hazard at work. It can be somewhat avoided, but at some point, it happens to everyone. Oh the books, the books....I see a ridiculous amount on various subjects. It gets worse when you come across a book you have actually wanted to look at.

The only non-knitting magazine that I routinely read is Real Simple. It is conveniently delivered to my mailbox and I am never disappointed with the contents. It has great recipes, organization and cleaning tips, different uses for random items, and "product comparisons." I got intrigued when they started to advertise a cleaning book that was coming out. Working at a bookstore, I got intrigued.

I took it with me on my lunch break one day....and then again the next day.....and again the next. Usually if I keep going back to a book, that probably means that I like it more than a passing fancy. If you ever get a chance to take a peek, I recommend it. This is both for cleaners and non-cleaners, 'cause I was definitely a non-cleaner.

Seriously, I have a serious aversion to cleaning....or more like keeping things picked up. In fact, those that have seen my apartment are astonished that I am recommending a cleaning book.

Well, they should see it now!! Well, at least the kitchen and living room. Today was my first real day off in a while. Well, the first one in a while were I didn't have anything planned. It was even the perfect day for it. It's sunny, 72 degrees, and there is a back-to-back-to-back Lord of the Rings Trilogy marathon on today.

It even smells clean...well, what I can smell. You see, it has been a while since I have really cleaned like this and well, there's a bit of dust. Dust makes the nose stuffy.

Lesson I learned today: Per my new cleaning book, I used a seam ripper on the brush on my vacuum. It is WONDERFUL at getting off hair, yarn, roving, etc., that has gotten wrapped around the brush head. You just slice down one side and it comes right off.

Also, your vacuum doesn't work as well when it has had the same bag in it since you got it.....um, 5 years ago?!? Yeah, like I said, I wasn't much of a cleaner.

Hello......goodbye.......

To catch up from last time, almost all of the quotes were gotten except for #5.

"I work harder than God. If He had hired me, He would have made the world by Thursday."

This came from "Keeping the Faith", a cute, funny movie. I recommend to all!

Meet The Golf Ball...I got this car when I graduated high school and it served me well for many years. It got it's nickname after it got caught in the mother of all hail/ice storms about 5-6 years ago. Those in the metroplex know which one I'm talking about. It took about three months to get into see your insurance agent. (Ironic sidenote: This was while I was in college and when we were going through the parking lot the next morning, the Lexuses (Lexi?), Audis, and BMWs and such all had windows broken out, where as us with the "cheaper" cars just had body damage. I always thought that was funny.)

So my mom decided to get a new car. It's very nice and pretty. But it turned out that my car, with the hail damage and, well, let's say questionable interior that has 97,000 would have a higher trade in value than my mother's newer, practically immaculate car that has 106,000 miles. Yeah, figure that one out. So I drove up to Oklahoma Sunday, traded in my car and I got my mom's old one. We were amazed that they gave us what they did for my lovely lil' car I have had for 9 years. We took it and ran!

Then, on the way home, God decided to poke fun at me. It wasn't nice. I got to drive down the highway, for three hours, going at 40mph. Why was I going so slow? Well, it probably had something to do with the tornado, horizontal rain, lots of hydroplaning, TWO instances of hail, and semis going way to freakin' fast in that weather. There was lots of cursing, especially when the hail started. "WHAT IS THE DEAL?!? AM I NOT ALLOW TO HAVE A NON-HAIL DAMAGED CAR?!?"

But I got through it and stopped at McDonalds for an ice cream cone. It made me feel much better. Then I looked at the car.Still a beautiful car......

As much as I will miss my ol' Golf Ball, my new Sixer will do me good 'cause you can do things like change the volume on the radio, open all the doors, open the windows at the touch of a button, adjust the side mirrors.....it's the little things you know.....

The Movie Meme...and some business....

So, my interview on Friday could not have gone better and I appreciate all of the good thoughts. It's up to the Job Fairy now. I should know by Friday. I congratulated myself by going to my aunt/uncle's house to watch Texas beat he crap outta Stanford. Hopefully tomorrow, I get to watch them beat the crap outta Memphis. But on to fun things!

I stole this from my sassenach homegirl, who stole it from someone else, and so one and so forth.

The rules:
1. Pick 10 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie (or get them out of your capacious memory).
3. Post them on your blog for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly in the comments, and put who guessed it and the movie.
5. Looking them up is cheating, please don’t.

The quotes:
1. "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!" (Anyone but Tasha on this one!) The Princess Bride, gotten by IrishGal and Da' Purse Ho!

2. "You can say what you want. It's always the guy in my job that ends up doing 18 months in Danbury minimum security prison." The American President - Good job, Nell!

3. "What don't you understand? I found the cure for the fucking plague of the twentieth century and now I've lost it. Haven't you ever lost anything doctor Bronx? Your purse? Your car keys? Well, it's rather like that: Now you have it and now you don't." The Medicine Man - Gotta give props to Miss Knotty. She came up with everything, but the title, so I figured I'd give it to her!

4. "Merchandising, merchandising, where the real money from the movie is made." - Spaceballs - gotten by Miss Knotty and Kerry!

5. "I work harder than God. If He had hired me, He would have made the world by Thursday."

6. "I'm not even supposed to be here. I'm just "Crewman Number Six." I'm expendable. I'm the guy in the episode who dies to prove how serious the situation is. I've gotta get outta here." Galaxy Quest - Another one by Da' Purse Ho!

7. "I was born a poor black child." The Jerk - Good job, Nell! For those who haven't seen The Jerk, think of Steve Martin saying that line back in the day.

8. "You have chosen... wisely." Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Another one by Da' Purse Ho!

9. "Get off my plane!" Air Force One - Another one by Da' Purse Ho!

10. "The funny thing is - on the outside, I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook." - The Shawshank Redemption - Another one by Da' Purse Ho!

One thing after another....

Hold on, I need a class of wine.....wine the Easter bunny brought me.....such a good bunny......

The maintenance guys came by on Monday, along with "third-party" plumbers. They were still working at 6pm when we last spoke. At 7pm, they were still there with the water off and, well, frankly, I had to pee. So I went up to work to see people and knit and drink tea (and pee). I went back home at 9pm to find one of the maintenance guys still there. The plumbers still hadn't fixed it so it wouldn't leak with the water on. To which I say, "Hey, you are a plumber and your job is fixing pipes. So you basically suck at your job."

The maintenance guy was trying to rig something up so that they could turn the water back on. He leaves about 9:30pm with it rigged up to where it's only leaking a little. He pulls a 30-gallon trashcan in there to catch the water so that I don't have to worry about it over-flowing or anything. That was nice of him (*rolls eyes*). I am dreading waking up to full-blown water gushing into my closet. Meanwhile, all of my stuff gets to stay on my bed and I sleep on the couch.

Tuesday rolls around and I get up from a restless night on the couch and go to work. When I get home, they had at least finished fixing the leak. There is still a hole in the ceiling, but it's not dripping water. They say it will be a while before they can come fix the whole so I can put my stuff back in my closet. WOO HOO, a night in my bed, which is good 'cause I am tired.

I head over to a work friends' house to watch a bit of The West Wing and go see my Chicks. I then get a call from my friend about 11pm that her brother was just killed in a hit-and-run. I please ask that you keep them into your prayers. It has been a rough and traumatic time for them. I obviously went over there and helped her out while her husband made arrangements for them. I ended up home around 1am, forced out after she realized I had to work in the morning! Seriously, she practically shoved me out the door.

Ah, Wednesday, good ol' Hump Day.....but it feels like a Monday.....after a long weekend of binge drinking. I get through work and head down to downtown Dallas for dinner with my mom, aunts, and my brother. There is loud music playing the whole way there, trying to vent frustrations and get in a good mood. The restaurant is one block off of the highway I start out on. Keyword is "start out on". The brain stops functioning and I end up going about 20 miles out of the way before I realize what I did. (For those around me, I was going to the West End, right on 35E and for some freakin' reason I took 635 to 75 before I realized. I have no idea where I was going.)

When I finally got there, I had me two of the BEST margaritas I have ever had. 'Nuff said. But it is short lived.....as I get home around 9:30pm I get a message from my apartment complex that they are coming by Thursday morning to patch up the whole, which means I have to take the crap BACK out of my closet....before I go to work at 7am, or sleep on the couch, again. Not to mention (actually, something that I HAVEN'T mentioned), I am working on a promotion and my interview is the next day after work. You know what I say? SCREW THAT!!! I leave them a message saying that I will not have my closet emptied, do not want them patching the whole tomorrow, and I will come by after everything to schedule an appropriate time. So I sleep, and all is well.

So yeah, my interview was supposed to be today, but she had to call and reschedule for tomorrow morning. Which kinda put an anti-climatic feeling on the whole day.....and I looked really cute too. So, I am drinking Easter wine....and it tastes good.

It's like sliced bread.....

I have weird feet. Really! I do.....check 'em out.
This is the product of walking on my toes for......well, a long time. I was thwarted repeatedly for it, but it was too ingrained in my brain to not walk this way. Although, I think it's kinda cool that all of my toes are the same length. Having these nice, extra-wide feet makes shoe shopping a horrid affair. This is why I love me some flip-flops. Would love to wear them all-year round, which in Texas, is easy to do. It's hard enough finding comfortable shoes that fit, much less ones that are work appropriate. Let's just say that flip-flops aren't work appropriate!

I have tried to talk the boss man into letting us wear black Crocs, but the whole "holey" thing just wasn't working for him. So what did I do? Found some without holes!These are my new best friend. All the cooshieness of Crocs with the coverage of good ol' work shoes. The first few days I wore them for about 9 hours straight, all of it on my feet. They did rub a bit, like all new shoes do, and they "exfoliated" the crap out of my feet. But after that little breaking in period, they are like butter. They form-fit to my foot without squishing them. If you are on your feet all day, running around, you HAVE to get a pair of these. They come in several different colors and I got them at Dillards for about $34. Doesn't get much better than that!

Well, shoe wise at least. Right now I am wondering where I am sleeping tonight. Why am I wondering? Check out my bed.See? And ya'll think I am exaggerating when I say I have a lot of crap. This is everything from my closet. So why is it on my bed instead of actually in the closet? Well, let's take a look at the ceiling, shall we?Yeah, I got a nice lil' leak going on. Luckily, it was slow enough and right in the center of the ceiling so it didn't get on anything. The problem is that this is still how it is at......6:00pm. And it's still not fixed and it leaks when the water is on. Which means that the water will be off for quite some time. I have been assured this will all be fixed by tomorrow, but that still leaves me sleeping on the couch without a shower in the morning.

But I have comfy shoes...... :-)

Happy Pi Day!!!

Yes, I am a geek, but you know this? What is pi day? March 14....3-14.... pi=3.14..... There we go! And it took me a while to find greek pi in the system....stupid HTML.....and then blogger wouldn't accept it. Poo!

In celebration, I would like to serve a little humble pie to a little someone who didn't actually believe I got buttons.....

BEHOLD!!!Pattern: Central Park Hoodie from KnitScene Fall '06, also available on KnittingDaily.com
Yarn: Plymouth Encore in #1444 (I think I used 7 skeins)
Needles: US6 and US8
Size: 40" (for the TMI of the day, my bust is 41.5")
Buttons: From Village Wools in Albuquerque, NM

Notes: The body is 1.5" longer than the pattern - I just wasn't paying attention! I Kitchenered the hood together, from front to back. First, this turned out a lot better than I thought. I was expecting the purls to look different, but they don't really, or I can't tell. Second, the back part ended up very pointy, but I think it will just leave it alone. I also added some reinforcement along the neck and shoulder edge to give it some stability via the Harlot.

Next time: I will add another button. I would on this one if my buttons weren't a 12 hour drive away. I also want to do my hood a bit different. I want to see about working decreases so that I can carry the back cable up to the top of the hood so it looks prettier when you aren't wearing it.

This did get some snow time in NM and a lot since I got back. The yarn is wonderful. It knitted up a lot softer than it was in the skein. Encore has definiately won in my book. It's other good quality.....cheaper than all get-out. I made this sweater for about $50, including buttons (which were $10, but so freakin' cute.)